Scarlet Lady
by Ellie the Jinx
Summary: Harry and Draco are back together at Hogwarts passion is rekindled, and Ginny becomes the center of the war between Voldemort and the Boy-Who-Lived. Slash threesome warning! DH, GV, GHD.
1. Prologue and Part One

Pairings: Harry/Draco, Ginny/Voldemort, Harry/Ginny/Draco, and a little Ron/Hermione but they're not in the main focus.  
A/N: Takes place in Harry's seventh year, this fic also contains OotP spoilers. Voldemort's activity is back to normal Muggle/Wizard torturing since he's out of the closet… Also Ginny is only sixteen. If you have problems with sixteen-year old sexuality then don't read.  
_Italics _Thoughts and/or dreams

* * *

Prologue- Secrets, Tomes and Illusions 

Wormtail handed his master a tarnished silver mirror with his recently polished metallic hand. Long fingers clasped the handle; they turned the mirror away from the face of its new owner. After a few seconds he turned the mirror over and stared at the youthful reflection.

_Tom Riddle had been handsome_, Voldemort noted to himself.

A Mirror of Secrets showed the dead reflection of Tom Marvolo Riddle in young adulthood. Tom once had dark eyes and shinny black hair. At the present, no woman would want him. Pale as bone, lank, with cold red eyes. The plan could not succeed if she was frightened of his images. Nightmares instead of pleasant dreams…

"Sir." A hooded Death Eater entered the room and kneeled. Nagini hissed at him, her white teeth bared. She sensed failure as well. So did the mirror; its glassy reflection showed empty hands.

"We could not find the tome you requested. The Muggle British Museum has no records. Neither does the Ministry of Magic." The Death Eater then tensed waiting for his punishment. Voldemort knew he had time to prepare the spell needed from the lost tome; other things were vital to the situation.

"What about planting the Seed of Illusions on the avatar?" The Death Eater was surprised punishment hadn't come. The Tome of Vishnu showed the spells for the transfer of essence and power form one being to another. It also showed ways to copy power to another avatar. It was essential for everything in this new plan.

"She is heavily guarded. Our infiltrator is keeping his eye on her, though the incident that was caused two summers past has impeded some progress." As the trembling Death Eater finished speaking, Nagini shouted to her master.

"Kill him! He is worthless!" Voldemort smiled, she was a great judge of character. The Death Eater of course knew nothing of what the great snake said, but the air was cold once more, death and perception rising.

"You did not answer my question. Is the Seed planted?"

The cloaked man trembled. "No," he squeaked.

The python hissed and spitted again, Nagini was hungry; she now had a meal. She rose as through a snake charmer we guiding her movements, she then slid slowly, then attacked. The Death Eater screamed as the snake ate away at his living body.

"The Seed must be planted, that is what's important. She must trust illusion before reality. Bring him to me. Find what the hell he's been doing!" Voldemort yelled these orders to Wormtail, who looked on the verge of vomiting. He nodded, transfigured himself into a small teenage looking boy, then walked off.

* * *

Part One- Bittersweet Bombshells 

The sun shone above slightly obscured by the shop banner for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. The two redheaded twins waved at the passing group of friends and sister. On Harry Potter's right was Ginny talking to Tonks. Tonks' hair was long and black today, she also wore a smile as Hermione and Ginny kept telling jokes. Behind was Mad-Eye, skulking and hobbling along, occasionally taking a breather then trying catching back up with the younger group. Ron was mumbling about him just ridding a broom so he could keep up. He shifted the bag on his shoulder, staggering a bit under the weight of all his books.

There were textbooks for all his N.E.W.T. classes, all his classes required to be an Auror. There was _Advanced Transfiguration: N.E.W.T.S Level_, _Advanced Charms for N.E.W.T. Students_, a new textbook for N.E.W.T.S Care of Magical Creatures: _Creatures Reconsidered_. There were two new books for _Defense Against the Dark Arts: Spells, Jinxes, and Counterjinxes_ _for the Advanced Defense_, and _The Dark Arts: Origin and the Present_. The most surprising thing was the Outstanding in Potions he'd received, the book under his arm _Potions for Practice: N.E.W.T.S Rank_ was an announcement of it .Snape tried to find out how Harry "cheated", but the Potions Master had no choice but to accept him into the class. He'd also finally dropped Divination since N.E.W.T. classes took so much time, and because N.E.W.T History of Magic wasn't a big requirement for Auror training, he hadn't taken it.

Last year had been hell, and this year was going to be just as bad, there was also his first Auror interview four weeks into the term. But as Tonks and Kingsley pointed out it would be well worth it after Hogwarts as both told him a preview of Auror training the night before, after stopping in for dinner at the Burrow.

Beside him, Tonks laughed at one of Hermione's Muggle jokes; Tonks got it since her father was Muggle born. Ginny looked puzzled for a moment then just shook it off; she paused slightly before adding in another joke, shifting her heavy bag to the other hand. Her bag was just as loaded as Hermione's. She had finally decided she wanted to be a Healer, and N.E.W.T.S classes were just the beginning of the training she would need.

In the Leaky Cauldron, Harry spotted a lonely Draco Malfoy reading by the fire, but a distance away from the group. Both looked at each other for a moment, but neither the dared not stare for long. But just as he turned to see Ginny disappear in the fireplace, Draco shut his book and walked towards Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson, shouting for him.

Harry shook the relief of seeing Draco and concentrated for the state of mind needed to Apparate. He thought about the Burrow, the smell of Mrs. Weasley's cooking, the mismatched furniture and everything else that made the Burrow home. He lifted his wand and CRACK! Within seconds he opened his eyes again and was standing near the fireplace and watched as knitting needles looped together of their own accord nearby. Mr. Weasley was home from work and was sitting at the table reading the _Daily Prophet_.

Moody, Ron and Hermione had Apparated either before or after he'd arrived. They all sat their bags down; Hermione walked immediately sat down in a comfortable chair to read. Ginny arrived a second later from the fire, followed by a Disapparating Tonks. Moody hobbled and sat down in the chair. Tonks walked towards the table too and knocked over chair in the process.

"Molly, Fudge's memoir is in the _Prophet_ today." Mr. Weasley handed the paper to his wife. She walked over to him and took it and scanned the article.

"It says nothing of how he betrayed his friends and tried to condemn them all." She threw the paper on the table and went back to the bubbling pot on the stove.

Harry quickly stole the paper before Moody had a chance to grab it. A sharp pang hit as he looked at the face on the front page of the Daily Prophet. It was a photo of Fudge in his youth, probably only late twenties. He read some of it out loud; mostly he just skimmed the obituary.

"Cornelius O. Fudge: born April 30, 1916, died August 20. ?Husband to Diane…Cornelius Fudge was murdered two weeks ago… Murdered by seven Death Eaters…the leader of the group Lucius Malfoy…Became Minister of Magic in 1983…"

Harry sighed; an article next to the obituary caught his eye. It was on the capture and escape of Lucius Malfoy. He read silently, only to his heart.

"Caught nineteen days after his third escape from Azkaban…Narcissa Malfoy and their son, Draco, deny any interactions with Mr. Malfoy…"

_Draco, I'm so sorry_. Draco's eyes shifted nervously in the picture in front of the great Malfoy Manor. The black and white picture refused to look directly ahead. Mrs. Malfoy's eyes were facing the camera, filled with fury only a woman could accomplish.

"'I have not spoken to, nor have seen my husband since his imprisonment…No I have not helped my husband in any way!'"

Harry sighed again. He touched Draco's cheek in the picture. _Be brave, love…_

* * *

It was well around midnight when the owl tapped on the window. It woke Harry fast; he quickly retrieved the letter from the owl's foot. It was Iris, Draco's new owl. She was a beautiful dark and light brown-feathered owl. She was very loyal to Draco already.

In a spark of wand light the letter was splotched with tears. Harry knew what it was about before he read it all.

Harry,

I can't believe it happened. Mother just got the owl…my father is dead. He tried to escape from the ministry and was hit by a Muggle car. It'll be in the Prophet tomorrow morning. I hated being in the Prophet again; it's like I'm a co-conspirator with the man I hate most. I wish we could just tell them all…(the tears started) It hurts so much, I need you here. (Tears smudged a crossed out part) I guess I will see you in a week.

Don't Apparate to me when you get this letter. It would be dangerous since Mother is beginning Death Eater activities again. Just send something back with Iris or Hedwig.

I miss you so much. Write back please. I need something.

But there is a bit of good news, I met Daniel Thorburt, he's the Head of the Department of Mysteries. He noticed me in Flourish and Blotts earlier today and the book I was buying was one he'd come to the shop for himself. We talked about books and such, and he mentioned that a brain like mine belongs in his department. Hmm, I guess I have a good mind. Never gave it much thought.

Love,

Draco

P.S. Do say hi to Gin for me.

Harry's heart hung heavy for a moment. Lucius was…had been stupid. Draco had idolized him for years, and then one day, in November last year, he broke down, Harry took pity. Just like that the spark had been started. For a while they were secret friends…

It had been in December of their sixth year, Draco admitted to how he really felt about Harry. It took The Boy Who Lived nearly a month to take it all in, and even now he could hardly believe that the passion the two shared, had started with disgust.

Iris had flown to Hedwig and Pig's perch. Since both were out, Hedwig couldn't pitch a fit. Iris drank some of Hedwig's water then flew back down to Harry. On his shoulder she nipped at his ear and hooted.

"From Draco? Or just you?" Harry stroked the underside of her chin.

Quickly he pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled a note back.

Draco,

Love, what can I really say to ease your tears and pain? I love you and soon I will hold you and everything will be fine.

I will send Ginny your love too.

Love,

Harry

Harry rolled up the clandestine letter and tied it to Iris' leg. Harry quickly grabbed an owl treat, while she gulped it down he stroked the underside of her chin.

"Hurry Iris, before Mrs. Malfoy finds you gone." She took it and flew off.

Ron's stirring scared Harry, he didn't jump, but his heart stopped for a few seconds. "Whaddya doin'?" Ron mumbled into his pillow.

"Couldn't sleep."

Ron mumbled sleepily then went back to snoring. Harry stared out into the night; Iris was no longer visible. Satisfied Harry climbed into bed. After making a mental note to pass on Draco's message to "Gin." Thinking of seeing and holding Draco soon, sleep claimed his now tired mind.

_It was after the Quidditch match, everyone was wet from head to toe while both teams stood in the hospital wing. One person from each team was injured. Ginny had fallen when a Bludger had hit her. In an attempt to stop her fall she'd grabbed Draco's robes and he slid off his broom. Everyone had started fighting after the Slytherin Seeker and Gryffindor Chaser fell to the ground and Harry caught the Snitch seconds later. A duel had broken out between two of the rival houses, one had gold butterflies for ears and the other had sprouted purple and green feathers from his head._

_Ginny was resting against the propped up pillow. Ron and Hermione had their prefect duties, so that left Harry and Ginny talking together. Madam Pomfrey was feeding the two duelists reversal potions. _

_"I feel really embarrassed." Ginny looked down at her fingernails and gave a small grimace. She pressed a hand to her side and winced. "Damned ribs, damn Bludger." _

_"Don't, you practically gave us the victory. On a Nimbus 3000, he was catching up to my Firebolt near the end there." Harry patted her hand. Madam Pomfrey said that both had concussions, Ginny had a broken rib from the Bludger, but she also discovered that Malfoy was really sick. _

_He hadn't stopped vomiting and apparently was running a fever that wouldn't sedate. In the bed across from Ginny's, he'd been drugged into sleep. But he twisted and turned in his sleep. Harry felt a twinge of satisfaction that Malfoy was sick and nobody could help him._

_"You better leave Harry, thanks for coming to see me," she whispered._

_"No prob…" an abrupt sound stopped Harry in mid-sentence. He threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself and curled up on the chair. Ginny laid back on the bed and shut her eyes. _

_Snape and Dumbledore walked in and the Healer came rushing out of her office. _

_"Any results, Professors?"_

_"I broke down Draco's blood and I found a most peculiar substance in is body." Snape pulled a small vial from his pocket. From what Harry could see in the dim light the liquid was fairly clear, but there was a purple tint to the liquid. "It's a potion called See-Me-Not. The concoction is forbidden to be brewed since it's as strong as the Imperius Curse, but it works in different ways."_

_"I'm not familiar with the potion." Madam Pomfrey took the phial and inspected it herself._

_"Be careful with the vial, the large concentration of nepenthe in the liquid can set you off balance for several days. See-Me-Not is brewed with the part of the person you wish to influence, and the person that is to be seen as something not seen. For example, a father whose son hates him, to see the parent as a figure of power and basically heroic."_

_"You think that Lucius Malfoy…poisoned his own son?" Madam Pomfrey looked horrified._

_"Poppy, the actions of a Death Eater or any follower of Voldemort (Madam Pomfrey winced at the sound of the name, Snape stood without any movement), you would expect irrational action. If Lucius had a son that was disloyal to him, it would be a problem wouldn't it? Yes, I do believe that Draco has been under the influence of this poison, and that we may see a very different Draco Malfoy develop over the next few weeks. After the withdrawal has worn off, of course. Snape would you be kind as to inform Draco's other teachers that he may be absent for quite a while." _

_"Yes, Headmaster. Also what if this has been over heard by…" Snape looked over at Ginny. She gave up the act and opened her eyes. _

_"I will swear Miss Weasley to secrecy," Dumbledore assured. Though Harry saw that Dumbledore was looking at himself while he spoke. _


	2. Part Two

Part Two- Journey to Asylum 

Platform 9¾ was busy as usual. There were three Ministry officials inspecting suspicious trunks and occasionally asked a student to empty pockets. These random inspections had occurred last year after the revelation that Voldemort was back. George had been targeted and a large from emerged from an upturned pocket. Fred explained about Fleck-Sized Pocket Frogs, a surprise on your teachers' faces when you empty your pockets. No joke made Harry smile; Narcissa Malfoy was at the platform. She had eyed Harry as he passed by, and he was sure if there were no witnesses, he'd be dead. He'd be more than dead if she found out about Draco's new tastes. Upon seeing one another, for one quick moment, silver eyes met emerald ones. With pangs of sorrow, Draco fell into the crowd of his followers retreating to the other side of the train.

In his box, Luna, and Neville had widened expressions as they talked about Fudge and Lucius Malfoy's death. _The Quibbler_ had published an outlandish article about Malfoy and his entourage. How they transfigured into giant snakes representing, He Who Must Not Be Named, and bit Fudge to death, using magic to delay the poison traveling through his body. Harry tried to ignore them; he had no desire to talk about it. That would probably be a major topic of conversation later that night.

The trolley came before Ron, Ginny and Hermione came back. Neville, Luna and Harry bought some cakes and pastries for them. They sat at the table between the seats while they played a game of Exploding Snap Poker.

Crabbe and Goyle walked past the trio with longing, but apparently without Draco's initiative, they didn't dare do anything. A few people stopped by to say hello, and others were asking about the vacant Beater spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Towards the middle of the ride to Hogwarts, Ron and Ginny came into the box after their Prefect meeting. Ron slumped into a seat, while Ginny sat down next to Luna and looked over the article she was reading.

"Whew! I pity Herm; she has to stay the rest of the ride with Malfoy. Since they're Head Boy and Girl they need to discuss a bunch of shit before the year starts." Ron grabbed a Pumpkin Pastry, took a bite then settled back even more. "Ya wanna know somethin'?"

"What?" Neville piped up quickly

"Malfoy was acting really weird, I mean I've seen a 'change' in him for a while now. But he never said anything rude or insulting to Hermione the whole time or any of the Prefects that weren't 'pureblood.' If I knew it wasn't an act, I'd say his father snuffin' it helped him turn over a new leaf." It took both Harry and Ginny everything not to hit Ron. Harry stole a glance at Ginny, her bronze eyes shone with a contrast of anger and compassion.

The morning after the last letter, Harry showed the tear-stained parchment to Ginny. She nearly started crying too. It was funny how Ginny found out. She had actually caught the secret couple making out in the library at the end of last year. Ginny had been Harry's confidante for everything this summer bringing both very close together. Deep inside Harry knew he loved Ginny, but he never wanted to hurt Draco, vowed he wouldn't.

"I don't see why he wouldn't turn over a new leaf. At least I would do in his shoes, I'd make sure everyone knew I wasn't involved with it too." Ginny pretty much said the whole two sentences in one breath.

"Ginny, I don't see why you'd put yourself in his shoes, but what you just said was bullocks. Malfoy wasn't born with a good bone in his body." Ron eyed Ginny for a moment.

"Plenty of wizards and witches born into dark families turn out okay! Look at Sirius! He was born to evil pureblood and look what he did, he would have died for Harry! Fuck, he did!" The vindictive redhead sat back in her seat and eyed her brother with malevolence.

Ron stared back in shock, but he didn't say another word.

* * *

Before the feast was started the Sorting Hat sung its new song and sorted the some-odd new students into their houses; there were twelve new Gryffindors now at the table when Dumbledore stood.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts! A warm welcome to our newcomers! I am a man of few words when stomachs are empty so, tuck in!"

Everyone dove into his or her plates and the food continuously piled on them when gold was back in sight. Harry stole a glance at Draco. He was very pale and skinnier than at the beginning of the summer, but he was eating potato soup. Ginny, who was sitting across from Harry, noticed the long stare at the Slytherin a several yards away. She stole a look at Ron stuffing his face and mouthed, "is he eating?" Harry nodded and returned to his mashed potatoes and roast beef.

Harry looked at Ginny one more time as she was sipping from her goblet. After putting the glass down she took a few more bites of the potatoes on her plate. After several minutes had passed he noticed she hadn't lifted her fork that still had mashed potato on it.

"What's wrong?"

"I just am suddenly not hungry." She pushed her plate away and sat there for a moment. "I feel a little sick too."

"Just drink something." She nodded in agreement and grabbed for her glass again.

In a few more minutes plates cleared, dessert was served. Ginny didn't touch anything. Not even the chocolate pastries, her favorite. She looked at a particular plate of cheesecake with longing, but after a moment she tore her eyes away, clenching her stomach.

"Ginny, just try something else." Harry picked up a chocolate cream filled pastry. "This pastry looks really good." He coaxed placing it near her lips; she took it and bit into the fluffy mass.

Ron leaned over to Harry and mumbled through gritted teeth and food. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Shut up," Harry gritted back.

In a few more minutes, nearly everyone in the Hall sat back with a sigh. Plates cleared seconds later and Dumbledore got to his feet.

"Now that everyone's been fed, I have a few announcements! Last year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Marley, had an unfortunate accident this summer. She is well, and says she wished she could return. So I must introduce this years' Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Weasley." Dumbledore gestured his hand to Percy sitting next to Hagrid.

Ron choked on his last piece of pastry. Ginny's eyes widened at the sight in the far end of the hall. Hermione mumbled something, and Harry stared at the lively looking Percy. He wore a half-smile that suggested smugness and a smile of content. The dark green of his expensive robes stood out next to Hagrid's usual big coat and gamekeeper's attire.

"He has graciously retired as undersecretary to the Minister of Magic and taken his residence back at Hogwarts less than five years after leaving.

"With the usual announcements, the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden. This year more than ever, as our Care of Magical Creature's teacher has procured some rather exciting creatures for his N.E.W.T's class." Ron gave a gulp to that.

"Several new items have been added to Mr. Filtch's list, this does include Trick Quills and Biting Bags. The Weasley twins can't have a new year start without new items." Everyone in the hall either chuckled or gave semi-guilty looks. "Now retire and let us have a wonderful school year."

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione proceeded with their duties and Harry made his way through the crowds to the Gryffindor tower. There he mumbled the new password, and the picture swung open.

"Well, don't say 'hi,' ungrateful students." The Fat lady mumbled.

"Sorry, hi."

"Well don't say it if you don't man it." She said indignantly.

"Make up your mind!"

He sped to his room, the last time ever in return to Hogwarts from summer break. For a while in the momentarily empty room Harry stared at his watch, waiting for the dead of night to come.

* * *

Harry thanked the stars, which shone so brightly above, that nobody was in the astronomy tower but Draco. The Invisibility Cloak shimmered as he removed it from his body and crept over to the platinum blonde. Harry slipped arms around his lover's skinny waist, skinnier than he had been at the beginning of the summer, and rested his head on Draco's shoulder.

Harry kissed behind Draco's ear and whispered. "What are you thinking about?"

"Death and dying mostly."

"Draco." He spoke as sternly as he could.

"Not me...others, the Dark Lord's victims...who he's hurt. I've never lost someone close to me Harry." A sob caught in his throat.

"Draco, listen to me. The only thing you can do about it, is talk, I know." The day when Sirius died was still so potent in his mind sometimes that it seemed to just happen all over again.

"He never loved me. Lucius just thought of me as someone to carry on the Malfoy name. I hardly ever felt anything from him. He didn't love my mother either. I always thought, now more than ever, how can someone be so heartless? Did he ever really love me?"

"No more heartless than Voldemort." Harry whispered. Draco took Harry's hands and intertwined them with his own.

"The one time I can remember him being remotely fond of me was on my seventh birthday. I got my first real broom that day, the newest Comet model. We went flying together; for a few hours it seemed he was actually proud. Then I fell of my broom, smashed the handle, and shattered my heart. He never took time out for me again. From that day on, I knew I had to be coldhearted or I'd never get what I wanted. Hmph, got nothing from that either.

I then I remember finding out that my parents had been poisoning me; that must have been what started it. I'd seen what my father really was, or they saw who I really was."

Harry remembered that. That was when everything about Draco, in his eyes changed. He thought it was the Black in him from his mother that caused him to see the truth.

"Does it matter what happened before, when you can be happy now? You've got me." Harry squeezed Draco's hands. The platinum blonde gave a weak smile and pulled their fingered embrace to his lips. "So it was a Muggle?"

"St. Mungo's said that if he had arrived a few minutes earlier, they probably could have helped him. Not even the top Healers can stop the brain from extreme internal bleeding."

"What do ya mean?"

"The Aurors after him saw the car, they first erased the lady's mind, then attended to Lucius. Shacklebolt said the car drove over him after a spell knocked him off his feet." A short laugh emitted from Draco, "a car, Harry. He's bragged about killing and torturing so many Muggles; he was done in by one.

When that owl came and Mother fell to her knees in shock. She didn't cry, it was probably just shock. But you would think, after living together for over twenty years, after getting married that you'd learn to love someone. Even having a kid together..." He stopped for a second, trying to put thoughts into coherent words. "I feel guilty, Harry. I felt so happy, relieved, when I heard the news, it makes me think would he have felt the same way about me?"

Harry paused before he spoke. "Love, I can't tell you what Lucius would feel, I really wouldn't want to. I can tell you this, I'd have to cross the River of Death to find you and bring you back. Crazy some would call me, for falling in love with you enough that I'd cross every gate of Hell to get to you."

Draco chuckled, "I'm going to Hell am I?"

"There's a book, well a poem called _Inferno_, it was written in the Renaissance by a poet named Dante. He actually wrote about Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In the _Inferno_, Dante says that pride and lust are sins worthy of Hell."

"Since when am I prideful and lusty?!" Draco nearly shouted, half-angry and half with laughter.

"Since always, that's what makes you Draco Malfoy." Harry squeezed Draco's hand lightly. Malfoy chuckled slightly again "Come on, let's go down to the kitchen and get something for you to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

Harry rubbed his hands over Draco's torso, you could almost feel every rib bone sucked in. "You are all skin and bone, you're going to eat even I if have to curse you." His voice was a no-argument-you're-doing-what-I-say tone. Draco laughed more audibly this time.

"Okay. Those cream puffs you were feeding to a certain someone looked good."

Harry lowered his head, touching the hood of Draco's cloak, in mock shame


	3. Part Three

Part Three- Something New, Old and Blue

When Harry arrived at the Great Hall the next morning, Draco was already at the Slytherin table reading the Daily Prophet and munching on a bit of toast. To be as inconspicuous as they had been for last few months last year, both didn't acknowledge each other except for the occasional insult. A few people including Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table; she had her head in arms and looking almost asleep.

"Hey," Harry said, smile broad on his face. He sat opposite the redhead and grabbed for a large muffin.

"Mmm, mmm, mm." Ginny mumbled and didn't look up.

"What's the matter?" Harry touched her shoulder, she looked up. She looked like someone deprived of sleep for days. Worn, although nothing could take away her own bronze-ruby beauty.

"I didn't sleep at all last night, annnd I still feel like I'm gonna puke."

The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher approached the Gryffindor table; he noticed his sister and sat down.

"What's wrong, Ginny?"

Percy smiled a smile between care and pompousness. It was a different Percy than Harry remembered. The third oldest Weasley had always been arrogant, but he lacked a quality of confidence that few people couldn't mask with other traits and created bravado. This was a whole new confident Percy. He was also wearing robes that accentuated his new self-assurance, and the expensiveness. There was not a crease in the dark red and black robes, and they looked extremely expensive.

"Hey Perce," Ginny looked back up and grabbed the goblet in front of her. She took a sip of the orange juice. "Nothing just a bit of a stomach ache that's all."

"It's Professor Weasley for the year. Well if it gets too bad don't hesitate to go to the hospital wing. This may be your first N.E.W.T. year, but you don't want to kill yourself over it." She held up an okay sign.

"Lemme catch a few minutes of sleep okay?" Percy squeezed her shoulder lightly.

"I'll see you later today, and Potter I guess I see you first thing." If Percy hadn't been standing there, a loud groan would have been very audible. He walked to the teacher's table, head as high as it could get before he'd hit the ceiling.

"I don't know what's worse," Ginny mumbled, "Perce as the Dark Arts teacher, or the fact that it's N.E.W.T.S. He's going to kill us with homework, and I know I'll get double the load."

"I'll probably always get the triple load. I'm sure he still thinks I'm a nutter and that I'm just seeking attention." Harry dropped his voice. "What do you think happened to Professor Marley? I mean she wasn't as good as Lupin, but she did a million times better than Umbridge."

"I don't know, that's what I was thinking about last night. Oh, speaking of last night, did I miss anything eventful?" She gave a small, sneaky smile.

"Nah, we just talked about the dumbass he was raised by and I talked him into eating something. When we got down to the kitchen he started eating, a lot." Ginny laughed through her nose a bit.

She then yawned but didn't put her head down again. She seemed to be making a very big effort to paint a smile and feign a good mood, as everybody made his or her way into the Hall.

"Hey Ginny!" A voice cried. Harry thought his name was Barry Higgins, a sixth year Hufflepuff, with hair a color of light brown that resembled peanut butter. He'd gotten in the habit of stalking Ginny towards the end of last year.

"Hey Barry, how was your summer?" Ginny smiled, Harry saw that it was an attempt to hide her gritting teeth.

"Great, my family went water-skiing a couple of times. How was yours?"

"Fine, Harry and I must have walked all around the villages surrounding my home." Barry gave an ugly look that was a cross between hate and intimidation, but he didn't say anything about it.

"What N.E.W.T.S classes did you take?"

"Nearly all. I've got all the requirements to train to be a Healer, but I need the classes first." Her smile was beginning to fade.

"I guess I'll see you in all my classes. I got a few O's and I signed up for N.E.W.T.S stuff too. Bye."

"Bye." Then she said through tighter gritted teeth when Barry was out of earshot. "Get outta here or you'll be on the receiving end of a cruse that'll make you even uglier." Harry suppressed a snicker.

After Ron and Hermione showed up Professor McGonagall started passing out schedules. Ginny looked at hers with a faint smile. Ron moaned a bit. Hermione scanned hers with fervor. Harry looked at his; sure enough Double Defense Against the Dark Arts was first, then Double Potions ending with Double Charms.

"Hmm, looks as though Harry and I have similar schedules. Only I have Runes and then Arithmancy after Herbology tomorrow." Hermione slipped the schedule into her bag.

"Well other than the lack of Potions, Harry and I have the same schedule." Ron gave one last look at the parchment then stowed it away as well.

Ginny spoke next, "oy, I've got as bad a load as Harry and Hermione. It'll be worth it though." As a true smile crossed her lips, her face lit up, erasing the wiriness that had just been there.

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Harry walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with Ron and Hermione. Draco was there, submerged in a thick volume bound in burgundy leather. Percy was sitting behind a desk in the front of the room, scribbling on a small piece of parchment. Next to enter the classroom was Neville and Seamus, then the Patil twins, and Lavender. The last Slytherins entered the class, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, they held each other's hands until they sat in the desks behind Draco. The pair tried to talk to him but he was so engrossed in the book, he didn't say much. The last few made it in before the bell rang Ernie Macmillan, Michael Corner, Zacharias Smith, Justin Finch-Fletchley and then Hannah Abbott with Susan Bones and Sally-Anne Perks.

After the bell rang, Percy didn't get up or say anything yet. He finished the letter and tied it to Hermes' leg, who then flew off. He then stood and tapped the blackboard with his wand. His neat handwriting scrawled upon the board. Everyone got the hint and pulled out quills and parchment.

"N.E.W.T.S Defense Against the Dark Arts Syllabus:

First quarter: Dark creatures and how to counteract them with Charms and Potions.

Second quarter: Dark jinxes and counterjinx theory and practice

Third quarter: Origin of the Dark Arts and the history of the Unforgivable and other curses.

First few weeks of fourth quarter: N.E.W.T.S review

All students are required to stay with the rest of the class, NO EXCUSES. If you fail to keep up, I will reserve the right to dismiss you from my class."

Harry smiled a bit. By the syllabus, this wasn't going to be as much an Umbridge-like year as he'd could have thought. Percy waited five minutes before speaking.

"Everyday, I will have the notes for the day upon the board as you enter class, on top of the notes you should be taking every time I am speaking. This is a class I expect to be the best. I heard how much of you participated in a certain Dark Arts defense group, thus I expect the best, and apparently if I don't get the results I desire, you would have wasted much of your time." The old members of the D.A. remained silent.

"Have you all copied the syllabus? I hope so; nobody is to ever ask me what we did in the last class. You better hope to get well done notes from someone, because in my class, one day behind makes a great difference."

Percy glanced over the room; most everyone was finished copying the board. He tapped the board again and two pictures of a very beautiful woman at first glance. But when Harry stared at her again he thought twice about the first picture. In the first photo she was half-naked with the lower body of a great serpent. In the next she was beautifully robed and standing on two legs.

"We will be starting with the Lilith. Now, who can tell me what the Lilith is?" Hermione raised her hand of course, so did Draco and Blaise Zabini. "Yes, Miss Zabini?"

Blaise's faux sweet alto voice spoke, it reminded Harry too much of Bellatrix's. "A Lilith is a woman who is much like a vampire, only she feeds upon the blood of children and their mothers. If a Lilith feeds upon an expecting mother, the mother herself becomes one. She can also assume the shape of a normal woman."

"Correct a point to Slytherin. The Lilith is a woman of serpentine origin. In her natural state she is half human, half snake. What is the myth behind the Lilith? Miss Granger."

"The Lilith was supposedly Merlin's first wife. She was cursed to never bear children and in her rage she promised that if she could never bear children, what right did other women have. In an attempt to contain her Merlin cursed her and she became a great half snake, though she escaped and started the spread of the Lilith's Kiss."

"Excellent a point to Gryffindor. Another monster similar to the Lilith is the Succubus."

Percy lectured on about counteracts on a Lilith and some of the potions you can make to stop a woman from becoming a Lilith. He went over some of the precautions to stop a Lilith from entering homes and how to recognize one in public. "Most Liliths migrate to warm, wet climates, like the Mediterranean but sometimes you see then here in Britain or Ireland. Succubi on the other hand prefer colder climates. You will also review the Succubus on your own time."

"Now, I will leave the rest of chapter one in _The Dark Arts: Origin and the Present_, to your study and I want a two and a half-foot essay on the countering of the Lilith's Kiss and the Succubi Allure." Not a groan was audible. "Begin reading."

Harry checked chapter one in his book; it was almost three dozen pages long. The heading mentioned the monsters they were covering: Succubi and Liliths. Then he thought about the assignment: two and a half-foot essay. One could only wonder what Potions had in store.

Again when Harry stole a glance at Draco after arriving in the dungeons, he was submerged in the same book. Snape glanced over the N.E.W.T.S class, gave the same look to Harry as he had done nearly every class last year, bewilderment and hatred mixed together, and then proceeded to lecture.

"We will be starting an involved transfiguration potion similar to the Polyjuice Potion, although this potion is meant for animal transformation. The Manimal Potion is fairly complex and if you let the brew go array, you will end up in the hospital wing if you don't wish to face embarrassment. You will be working in pairs...that I assign."

Snape went around grouping pairs together. Hermione moved towards Hannah Abbott but Snape paired her with Blaise, the dark headed, thin lipped, girl smiled.

"Potter you will be working with Malfoy." Harry stole a glance at Draco; the Slytherin was grinning maleficent. He knew it was a disguise, the glint in his pewter eyes gave it away.

"Potter, you better not mess up in this potion, or you'll be in the hospital yet again." Draco said aloud, then in a barely discernible whisper, "I'd hate to think of Madam Pomfrey walking in on us." Harry tried to hide his smile.

Within minutes the dungeon was the temperature of an oven, since the potion needed to stay at hot temperatures.

"Okay Potter, did you stir in the vole whiskers?" Harry nodded. "Time to add the powdered bicorn horn, and turn up the damned heat." Draco wasn't even looking at his notes as he followed the next steps.

"How do you know the recipe?" Harry whispered.

"Snape showed me the lesson plans. I read ahead." Draco's lips barely moved when he whispered causally. "Time to let it simmer for the next fifteen minutes. I'm glad this stuff doesn't take as long to make as the Polyjuice Potion." The liquid bubbling in the cauldron was a sky blue with the occasional wisp of midnight blue streaming through it.

Snape stood at the head of the classroom after his most recent sweep. "I have several samples of animal skins, hair, etcetera. Pick one and you will add it to a sample of potion you will drink as well as your partner. You will remain at your seat, I don't want animal byproducts all over my classroom."

Draco walked up to the front of the room and brought back a grey and white feather and several dark hairs. "Pick one." Harry grabbed for the feather, in the process deftly stroking Draco's open palm.

Snape began speaking again. "Now other things you need to write down about the Manimal potion before you drink your concoctions. Manimalizing yourself for long periods of time can have deadly consequences. Others not so deadly but you may never regain or shed certain body parts again. I have antidotes up here so that you can return to normal and then clean up."

Within minutes there were birds, dogs, cats and even a few reptiles moving around the classroom. Draco was crouched on the stool, and if Harry could snicker through a falcon's beak, ferret toes drummed in irritation. The clear antidote potion lay in a bowl for each person; Draco immediately reached for it. Harry scanned the room though falcon eyes. There was a mouse in the far corner, it was Hannah. The bird within wanted to jump on the mouse; tear claws in to the tiny body, and fill a hungry stomach.

"Potter ya better get your already bird brain back into reality, cause I'm not cleaning up this mess by myself." Draco still looked irritated from being a ferret again.

Harry dipped his beak into the bowl and drank the awful antidote that tasted how India ink smelled. The next half-hour was spent cleaning, in which Snape slid in a request for a foot long essay on other animalizing potions, how they differ from Animagi abilities and spells.

At lunch Ginny still didn't look good. She took a bite of an apple then pushed it away and took a sip of pumpkin juice. Harry tried to goad her into eating more but she just pushed him away.

"I'll be fine Harry, it's just my nerves."

The Boy Who Lived shook his defeated head.


	4. Part Four

Part Four- Mine Heart is a Sea

Draco and Harry had actually started the study session in their secret room, studying things they were supposed to. But within an hour they gave up and just fell into the sea of sheets that had been so magically provided. It had taken them a while to find it, but the location was directly above the Room of Requirement, so some of the charms that created the room left a residue easily manipulated by the talented teens, making their own hideout.

"Draco?" Harry broke their most recent streak of kisses and propped his body up on his elbow.

"Yes, love?" Draco reached out and moved dark strands away from emerald eyes.

Harry opened his mouth to speak then closed it. Draco raised an eyebrow several shades darker than the majority of his hair. "Do you...about...hmm..."

The blonde snickered, "Do I about what?"

"Do you think we're being fair to everybody? I mean if we stopped this facade and came out, wouldn't we make people suffer less?"

Draco thought about that for a moment. "No."

"Why no?"

"I think that our friends would make us choose, and even though I'd rather choose your mates' side of everything...Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, Nott, and some others do have the brains along with ruthlessness to back up their words. Since it would go beyond Hogwarts, I'd fear for Granger, Weasley, and..."

"And?"

"Gin. I should have told you sooner. Mother found out that Ginny and I were writing, she never found your letters, but...if I betray them too soon, we won't be able to protect her. From my mother or V-voldemort." It was the first time Draco had actually said Voldemort's name in front of Harry. The dark haired boy smiled.

"Who'd have known, underneath all that potion interior, was a kind, gentle, loving Draco Malfoy."

"Don't go spreading it around, I have a reputation crumbling here." Harry leaned over Draco to plant another deep kiss on already kiss-swollen lips.

"Mmm...speaking of the Red, how is she?" Harry let his body fall over Draco's.

"I'm worried about her. If she's come down with something, it's happened fairly quick."

"Where's the map?" Harry slid of the bed and walked barefoot to his discarded shirt and jacket. He then brought the parchment back over to the bed.

"Solemnly, I swear I'm up to no good!" Hogwarts spilled over the map. Both scanned for the dot that would say "Ginerva Weasley."

"Ah, ha she's in the Prefect's bathroom." Harry saw the dot with the tag sporting Ginny's name moving back and forth slightly.

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Homework had been going nowhere and the sickness that had come on the night before was dissipating slowly, a bath seemed to be helping. Ginny swum laps back and forth in the bubbled water of the swimming pool bathtub. She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes.

Last night's dream had been so horrifying, yet the horror behind it was more sexually thrilling than anything. Tom Riddle had appeared to her, the way he had been in her first year down in the Chamber of Secrets. Youthful, even after fifty years. Dark hair, piercing dark eyes showing the malevolence in his soul.

_He held me so gently; he lips had been so soft._ Ginny traced her own fingers over her lips. He'd tasted like mint chocolate and the deep taste of blood.

"Sexual fantasies in the Prefect's bathroom. I think these walls have seen much more." A voice full of sex, even when he didn't mean it, echoed off white marble. Ginny shrieked and ducked into the water so only her head could be seen above the bubbles.

"Damnit, Draco! Don't scare me like that!" Draco was nowhere to be seen. "Harry! Draco! Take the cloak off!" Two gorgeous heads then, two fuckable bodies were unveiled about three feet from the edge of the tub. Ginny tried to give her most dangerous death glare.

"Easy Gin, we don't want to die in here!" Draco laughed then sat down. Harry threw the cloak over by Ginny's bag and sat next to his lover.

"Get out! I'm not dressed or in a good mood."

Harry then promptly stood and began to strip.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ginny narrowed her eyes even more at the pair.

"Undressing so that I can join you." The redhead growled. "Easy, barracudas aren't allowed in a Hogwarts bathtub."

Draco looked up at Harry who'd just thrown his shirt and undershirt aside. "Is that really a rule?"

"Yeah, Filtch made it one after Fred and George released one in their second year." Ginny spoke up. Harry was now down to green boxers.

"Keep your boxers on, and get me a towel. I don't want to be naked in a bathtub with you. If anyone found out..."

Draco laughed again. "They won't."

Harry walked over to the diving board, a pair of bronze eyes, and a pair of pewter eyes following him. He stood on the board then jumped in. Ginny tried to search through the thick bubbles for him, and found the dark headed teen when he grabbed her ankle.

"Towel!" Ginny shrieked. Draco chuckled again and began sliding to the rack of white fluff. Draco slid back and handed the towel to Ginny.

Harry had surfaced. "Judges?"

"A four." Ginny grumbled, trying to preserve her modesty wrapping the wet mass around her. She looked up and saw that Draco was now discarding his clothes. "No! No! NO! No more naked boys in the bathtub."

"I'm not naked. "Harry swum around the redhead with a broad smile on his face.

"Fine nearly naked!" She glanced over at the Slytherin; he was peeling off his black pants with no show of boxers or any other kind of underwear. "What do you think you're doing?"

"About to join you." Draco's pants were down around his ankles and he was stepping out of them.

"Harry make him put something on!"

"Well he goes commando, and as I am only wearing boxers not wanting to get my pants wet..." She growled again.

The sound of Draco discarding his pants to the pile of clothes sent nasty images through her head. She could feel her heart start to pound. How many wet dreams, fantasies, and daydreams had been spent about Draco and Harry's bodies? Ginny swallowed hard as she heard Draco slip into the water.

"Draco, please put some clothes on," she whimpered.

"Do you really want me to do that?" The blonde slid over to Harry and planted a kiss on wet lips.

"For my sanity and the sanity of my bed sheets, yes."

Harry laughed, Draco smiled too. "Well, you do seem in a better mood." Harry kissed his lover.

Draco kept smiling. "It's because I am. Why shouldn't I be? Aced that potion, finished Weasley's essay, I tell ya I don't want to run across a Succubi any time soon, and I'm with two of the most beautiful people I know in a bathtub." Ginny growled again. "Awww, are you mad cause I didn't kiss you either?" Draco launched at her.

Ginny tried to move backwards as fast as she could. _Have to deny. Don't want a naked Draco on top of me. He's Harry's..._Ginny backed up to the wall and remained silent.

"Please don't do this. This is not fun; at least not right now. I just want to go to bed. Don't look, please." Ginny grabbed the side of the tub and hoisted her self out of the cooling water.

Draco and Harry both turned around. Ginny grabbed for a dry towel, hurriedly dried off, wrestled her clothes on and made for the door.

"I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings Gin." Draco looked over at her with remorseful eyes.

"I know. I just want to be in a serious mood. Good night."

" 'Night," both said.

As soon as she was under her sheets and blanket, Ginny closed her eyes. Fixing the memory of Harry's near naked body, and Draco's naked one in her mind. They belonged to each other. _I can't break them up. I love them too much._

_Ginny found herself head to toe in black. A black circlet of onyx stones brought out the blooded shades in her hair. The Renaissance style dress she wore was tight. The bodice laced up to bring her breasts high and pert. Black leather boots and black lace gloves completed the dark outfit. She stared into the mirror, something was wrong with the reflection. This wasn't _Ginny Weasley_; this was the creation of someone else's imagination._

_"So, beautiful." Tom's snaky voice cut through the silence, approaching her from behind. The mirror eliminated any surprise, yet it covered everything. He was dressed in black robes; no other color broke the monochrome theme. The cave's blackness, was only broken by the light emitted by the black candles._

_"No, I'm not." _

"_Of course you are, my Lady. Now come, the world awaits for you to awaken." Tom held out his hand. When she took his hand the feeling did not accompany the look. His fingers felt long, even though they didn't look it..._

"_Stop it." She pulled her hand away._

"_You can't deny the darkness within, vast as any sea. It is the driving force of the universe, evil."_

_Looking in the mirror, he was right...evil. The essence of her soul. But there was also light. Harry and Draco's faces appeared in the glass, they each held out a hand...for her. _


	5. Part Five

Part Five- Emotion Most Evanescent

The beginning of October neared, coloring the trees with red, yellow and brown. Hagrid's set of pumpkins were growing huge and Madam Sprout's fall plants had ripened with great care from the sixth and seventh year N.E.W.T.S class.

"Nepenthe is a most peculiar plant, white leafed and yellow buds that give off no scent. In Ancient Greece it was the official remedy for depression. Nepenthe is also the essential ingredient in several mind controlling potions." Madam Sprout lectured as the class dug up the roots, the strongest part, of the nepenthe plants around the greenhouse.

Ginny was hard at work with her partner, Barry.

"Hey Ginny, I was thinking maybe next Saturday when we all go to Hogsmeade, you and I could go together." Barry tied off his pile of roots and set to tie the bundles Ginny was finished with.

"Probably not, Draco and I were going to do something together. Sorry." Luckily Draco Malfoy was probably the smoothest liar and easy on the uptake, cause Barry would probably say something. Although he was a little terrified of the "tame" Slytherin.

The Hufflepuff boy was quiet throughout the rest of the Herbology lesson and Ginny's luck furthered when he immediately left the greenhouse.

In the Great Hall during lunch, Harry was a little late with a look on his face that was barely readable. There was something of excitement and fear; everything else was a jumble.

"What happened?" Ginny looked up from her half-eaten shepherd's pie.

"My Auror interview is next Saturday, McGonagall just told me. I'm nervous. Damnit..." Harry sat down and ran his hands through his hair.

"What's to be worried about?" Hermione looked on the verge of giggles at her friend's nervousness.

"I have a million different worries. Too many things to think about." He pushed lunch away and ran his hands through naturally messy hair again.

"Well eat, don't go all hypocritical on me now." Ginny shoved a pie over his way and moved her own.

"Yeah, wouldn't want that now would we?" Harry's eyes gave the mischievous look that they usually gave nowadays. "So, that means you and I won't be going to Hogsmeade together."

Ginny shrugged pushing her half-eaten pie away. "I'll ask someone else." Ron looked from Harry to his sister then back again. She looked up at him and smiled with a bright grin.

"Have I been missing something?"

"Ron." Hermione said with her firm don't-push-anything tone.

"All I'm gonna saying Herm, is that you two," he pointed at Ginny and looked at Harry, "have been acting strange for a while now. So, get it out in the open. Harry, Ginny has finally charmed you."

"No." Harry took a long sip from his drink. "I finally wooed her." Ron raised an eyebrow, the confusion in his eyes didn't match the anger on his face."

"Don't worry Ron, you'll understand it when you're older." Hermione grabbed her Arithmacy book and began reading.

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Draco stood at the open doors of the Great Hall waiting for Ginny. Barry had already passed with another girl on his arm and gave Draco a look of jealousy the likes of which no man has seen before.

"Who are you waiting for Mr. Malfoy?" Percy's voice made Draco jump a bit.

"Ginny if you must know, _Professor_," he snapped, adding "professor" with as much cynicism he could muster.

"Watch your words Draco, you don't want to be put on suspension from your position." The new professor eyed him with cynicism.

"I'm well aware of how far I can go with my words, Professor." Draco returned the glare.

Out of the corner of his eye Ginny was rushing down a flight of stairs. She was wearing a black sweater and a scarlet skirt that barely brushed her knees.

"Hey, Per...Professor Weasley. Ready Draco?" Draco held out his arm.

"Ready." Ginny laughed and took it. "Bye." She waved to Percy he acknowledged her gesture with a slight wave of his hand.

As soon as they were out of earshot from the crowd and Percy they started to talk freely.

"He threatened to suspend you from your Head Boy position, just for talking to him in a wrong tone? Jeez, I hate my own brother." Ginny sighed, exasperation eminent.

"I heard Ron is getting suspicious of you and Harry." Draco smiled slyly.

Ginny smiled back, grabbed for Draco's hand, and interlaced her fingers with his. "We mustn't cause rumors to fly, wouldn't want that." They laughed and walked onward. After a few minutes Draco spoke again.

"I wonder how the interview will go?" That made Ginny laugh again.

"Harry's great and all under pressure, but who knows? So what about you?"

"Pardon?"

"What are you going to do when you grow up Mr. Malfoy?" Ginny giggled as they passed the group of friends she used to spend her free time with, and they looked at her and her companion with shock.

"The Department of Mysteries wants to see what I got. The head of the department and I talked when I was at Diagon Alley earlier in the summer, looking for more books to read" He gave a small snort. "Reading that's all I did over the summer, read. I finished _Finale of Farrigon_, it was about the invention of the time-turner."

"And you wrote letters." The redhead smiled, but there was something in the smile that wasn't whole.

There was something about Ginny that was colder? No, she was just paler than usual, although she had been tanning from her daily excursions with Harry over the summer. _That's it, her tan's just fading._ Draco told himself.

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Harry sat outside Professor McGonagall's classroom shaking with nervousness. The first of several interviews on the journey to become an Auror, unless this would be the only one. The door opened after an eternity and out stepped Sally-Anne Perks. She was a Ravenclaw that seemed to always have a cheery expression about her thin face framed by soft brown hair.

"Harry! Wow! I didn't know you were going into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, since you always seem to be in trouble." She smiled wide.

"Yeah, suppose I should get the real troublemakers off the streets."

She laughed. "Good luck." Sally-Anne hopped away.

A fairly loud, feminine voice came from within the office, "Harry Potter!" Harry jumped up and nearly charged into the room.

A woman sat at the table in the front of the classroom. She looked young, but streaks of gray flashed through her auburn hair in its tight bun. She was also missing a finger on her left hand, her pinkie. At the table she was thumbing through a folder, his folder. A knot caught in his Adam's apple, caught on what to say.

"Hello, Mr. Potter." She offered her hand, Harry took it and was amazed at the many calluses he felt underneath his fingers, and how strong the grip was for a small hand. "My name's Kez Byron; sit down."

Harry sat as Kez did. She gave a small "hmmm," and then looked at him with deep gray eyes. She had the look and lines of a woman in her 40's, though there were no laugh lines to speak of.

"We both know why you are here. You wish to join the rest of us Aurors in the Ministry of Magic. You have quite an impressive record Mr. Potter. About Defense Against the Dark Arts, your teachers have been less than satisfactory, yet you scored the highest "O" on the O.W.L.s that's been seen in quite a while. Professor Marley even commented that you could teach 'her' a few things. Though Defense Against the Dark Arts is the root of much of the work we do as Aurors, it is not all of it of course. Your Potions marks were horrible, until after your O.W.L.s. You pulled them up to between an "A" and "E." Though Professor Snape has anything but nice things to say about you." She gave a short laugh. "You'll need to show you're more than satisfactory at Potions, later on. Charms marks always at an "E" average. You've excelled in Transfiguration the last few semesters.

Your Quidditch skills are amazing. Believe it or not that is going to give you an edge in a few tests. Being a Seeker teaches you to seek, for lack of a better term. Stealth, speed, you already have many qualities that some Aurors are still developing. The written test you took earlier this summer proves that.

The written also shows us you have qualities that we especially look for in a youth. May I point out Mr. Potter, there were only three in the school this year that we would have even looked at for Auror training even, before the test."

"Ma'am, I have a question."

"Speak."

"How long does the training last, before actual tracking down and being a _real_ Auror?"

Ms. Byron, Kez, stopped for a moment. Harry thought he saw her resisting a smile. "Three years usually, some field work starts towards the beginning of your third year, that is after most of the tests are completed. But it's dedication that is a major key. You have to be dedicated. Mr. Potter I will be very blunt with you. If you have any ideas of being a hero to the damsel in your life, give her up now. This career path is hard going. It leaves no time for love."

Harry looked into her eyes. Poor woman, a spinster. It made Harry take a few years off her predicted age. She had to be only 35-ish. "I have no serious romantic attachments." He lied through his teeth.

She flipped through the papers in his folder again. Then slipped in the piece of parchment she'd been taking notes on during the interview. "I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be an Auror. Congratulations, Mr. Potter. You will be interviewed again by another of my associates, most likely by the Head of the Department. Then after Hogwarts, it's on to training." Kez Byron stood and offered her hand, this time with less formality and more welcoming. Harry took the callused, strong grip again.

He then tried to hide a nervous laughter as well, one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of how the relationship of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy would be discovered.


	6. Part Six

Part Six- Best Dreams Ever Dreamt

Sweaty bodies, the scent of sex in the air, and the rapid breathing meant that the two sharing the bed in the Room of Secrets had just finished an awesome session of great shagging. Harry nestled, still panting, into a mass of pillows Draco resting his head below Harry's collarbone.

"So, the interview went well?" Harry opened eyelids to meet silvery eyes.

"I guess so. I mean Ms. Byron said that I had many fine qualities and another interview would happen. It will be in November-ish." He frowned a bit, then tried to lift the corners of his mouth in smile.

"Oh great, have fun with that one. In the meantime" Draco sat up and ran his hand through dark locks. Eyelids closed over emerald eyes, savoring the touch. Their lips met again and the heat was turned up again.

Tongues slipped and moved this way and that. Draco climbed on top of his lover and began to run pallid hands over the tanner body. Harry moved his own hands over Draco's arms and back. Draco had gained some much-needed weight in the last few weeks. Quidditch practice was taking its toll on the pair as well; misused muscles regaining their summer denied workouts.

Draco slowly moved across cheek and jaw, and began licking and nipping a trail down Harry's torso. He paused at his navel, then looked into emerald eyes. There was a glint that made Harry smile even wider. The stress of the day was forgotten completely, wrapped up and stored away by love and lust.

_A hand trailed over a tanned thigh, smooth fingertips making their way over hip and sides. A smaller body spooned against his own was doing the caressing, as someone else's lips touches his own. The fingers left his side and interlaced with the lover doing the kissing. Harry looked down after lips parted, and saw Draco's hand entangled with someone who had purple painted fingernails. _

_A groan escaped his open mouth when the other lover nipped and suckled at his neck, while the other mouth worked below the hallow of his collarbone._

"_Promise we won't wait this long again?" A feminine voice spoke. "Promise that we won't ever deny our needs again." It was Ginny's, but full of seduction and carnal desire._

"_I promise..." Harry gasped as Draco began sliding his fingertips down his torso past the black curls that lead their trail down._

The dawn was breaking in through the drapes of his canopy bed. Harry was sore from head to toe, not to mention sticky.

"Fuck!"

"Harry?" Ron called somewhere across the dormitory. "Breakfast is almost over, hurry up or you'll miss the newest lecture on Nagas."

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." Halloween morning had started out happily enough, he just hoped that Ginny would be out of sight for the morning. Or else there was going to be some noise coming from the nearest, closed-in place from where they'd meet.

Ron was already scuttling off. Harry grabbed for the nearest, cleanest set of robes. He struggled to put them on in a half-wet dream daze, snatched his bookbag and ran to the Great hall.

Ginny wasn't there, and neither was Draco. Never had someone wanted to see two people so badly, and yet run if they were within a hundred yards. He hurriedly ate and ran for N.E.W.T's Care of Magical Creatures.

His heart fell as Percy was there with Hagrid. _Don't let Percy stay, don't wanna talk to the bastard._

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher barely acknowledged Harry as he passed by, blue robes fluttering behind him, clutching his arm in the white sling.

"He seems to be in a bad mood," Hermione commented.

"Yeah, he's not the only one," Ron commented. "Did ya see Snape take ten points from that Ravenclaw girl just because she dropped her books and one hit his foot? Git."

At that moment the Slytherins, the only two currently in the class, started giggling. Blaise and Theodore were looking at something in their hands.

"What could you two have anything intelligent to say?" Hermione snapped.

"We were just laughing at Potter, and his new girlfriend. Or should we say Draco's?" Blaise turned held up a picture; it was Draco and Ginny holding hands. She started giggling. "Oooh, Draco's been a naughty boy. Tsk, tsk. What will his Mummy have to say?"

"Well _I_ would say that if you don't hand over the picture, _your_ parents are going to find out about the midnight excursions you two have been on." Draco had appeared out of nowhere, but there was fury that marked his eyes. "Now I can't use force to get the damned photo, _but_ as you know there is a curfew that as Head Boy, I have to enforce."

Blaise's dark eyes went livid; Theodore just stared at Draco as though he'd never seen him before. Reluctantly she handed the snapshot to Draco; he crumpled it up and pocketed the trash. The dark female whispered something inaudible to the Gryffindors a few paces away, but the Head Boy merely scowled back.

"Okay, break up what ever yer fightin' 'bout." Hagrid's grunt voice broke the heavy silence. "If yer not gonna act like N.E.W.T students, don't come back to me class."

"If you can call it one," Theodore mumbled.

"Now lets get over ter the lake, I reckon Nemo is 'ungry." Nemo, the giant snake Naga that Hagrid had procured for his highest class. He adjusted the bloody bag over his shoulder and led the way to Nemo's dam.

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"Grrr! I hate potions!" Ginny slammed the book she'd been reading shut and began massaging her temples.

It had been almost two weeks since the Hogsmeade visit. The first Quidditch match had been played: Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. The score had been fairly close 110-160; it had been a Gryffindor victory for the seventh year in a row. Draco had been oddly quiet for a few days afterwards, then he returned to normal.

"Hey, it's not your fault you stink at potions." Draco picked up her book and flipped through the complex network of potions, herbs, fungi and plants. The redhead scowled for a moment, Draco spoke before she could open her mouth in protest. "The book is a fairly bad one. Here take my old notes." He handed her a thick stack of pages. She groaned and took them. "Don't worry, my notes aren't as bad as Granger's, well, at least most other people can understand mine."

"Thanks, Draco. I just don't know how I'm going to survive next year with out you." She took the notes and shoved them in her book.

"I got a secret, it called a quill, an owl and parchment." The Slytherin returned to his Transfiguration assignment.

"My problem is, too much work, not enough sleep. Not that I really do when I can." She sighed and pulled her Defense Against the Dark Arts book forward. "Basilisks, he gives us an essay to do on Basilisks! Bastard."

"What?!" Draco exclaimed, "he fucking gave you an essay to do on Basilisks?"

"I know that was my reaction, it was like 'Perce, I not only have I talked to one, the man who wielded it through me was You-Know...V...Voldemort.' I nearly cried." She turned her head away and delved into _Dark Beasts and How to Defeat Them_.

A few minutes of silence passed, broken only by occasional quill scratches and page ruffling. Draco looked up for a moment and saw a liquid crystalline tear soak into the pages of her book. He moved books of the seat next to Ginny, moved the oak chair over and put his arms around the sobbing redhead. He let her cry for a few minutes; her crying heard by nobody outside the silence charmed study room.

"What's the _real_ problem, Gin?" Draco cooed, as her hysteria calmed down. Ginny looked up; puffy red eyes strangely outlined her bronze eyes.

"I can't sleep, and when I do...it's filled with...nightmares or. But at the same time filled with complete..." She bit her lip.

"What?" He moved a strand of hair away from her face.

"Complete joy. Only when I wake up I feel disgusted. In my dreams I'm hurting people, sometimes people I love. And there are times, usually after what little I eat; I'm so sick to my stomach I have to just lay down. That's when I usually have the sadistic dreams. But before that and between dreams, it's about..." she took a breath, "you and Harry."

Draco's eyes widened. She lusted after him the way he did for her and Harry? The fact that he had nearly the same types of dreams, the three of them together, was unnerving.

"The happiness I feel from those dreams is immaculate. I feel so, whole. It's stupid, I've got a crush on two gay boys." She wiped the remainder of wet tears on her sleeve.

"I didn't think you, liked me, _us_. Gin, I think..." the Head Boy sighed. "Nothing, never-mind."

"Don't tell Harry please. I don't to break the two of you up. I'd just rather enjoy from a distance." She closed her book and grabbed her bag. "Thanks for the notes, I'll bring them back soon."

"Keep 'em as long as you need 'em." Draco plucked his quill from the inkwell and began playing with it.

"It seems like all I do is embarrass myself around you." She chuckled half-heartedly and walked out of the study room.

In her room she flung onto the bed and cried herself to sleep. The night surprisingly dreamless.


	7. Part Seven

Part Seven- A Coeur Ouvert- (With open heart)

Ginny walked down the halls just finishing her round. Nobody was around the east wing of the first floor, she was grateful. Staying away from people was all she'd wanted to do for the last two days. The headaches had been excelled to migraines after Percy put several volunteers under a curse that made certain Protection Charms crumble and do a rebound effect. It left her uncoordinated and very thirsty, but it made the feeling of hunger nearly eradicate completely.

A set of purple draperies shuffled as she passed them. She groaned in exasperation and turned back to them. The cloth parted in a flash, several hands grabbing her and a pair of lips met hers hungrily.

There were apparently two sets of hands running over her body. Someone a bit taller than herself was spooned against her back. Their lips met her neck and ears.

The other lips still suckled and nipped gluttonously. Slipping a tongue through her gasping mouth to explore. She finally had the sense to open her eyes and met the closed ones of a white-blonde haired teen.

_Draco! _

Draco's hands brushed slightly over her breasts and then trailed back down again to her sides. The blonde teen parted mouths giving both a chance to get an adequate breath. The personage behind her seized this moment to kiss her mid-breath. Ginny saw a flash of dark strands as he moved so fast.

_Draco and Harry, both kissing and groping me in a closet. Damnit Ginny wake up!_

At last Harry let her breathe. He chest moved up and down in hyperventilating pants. After a few seconds she spoke.

"What the hell are you two doing?!"

"Shhh," Draco put a finger to her lips. "Mrs. Norris was on the second floor, the key word there is _was_. She may have moved."

"The only one of us that would get in trouble is Harry!" Ginny exclaimed in a whisper filled with fury.

"I've got the cloak, besides, I'm a pretty lucky person." Harry brushed his fingertips over her collarbone.

"Why?" Ginny looked at Draco in vexation.

"I never promised," he whispered with a sly smile. "Besides, as I always say 'seize the day' Carpe Diem. Well in this case it would be Carpe Noctem."

Ginny growled under her breath. "We'll get caught. Besides, I don't want to be used."

"We're not using you, Ginny." Harry stroked her cheek, and brushed the tear that had fallen.

"I'm afraid that, that's what it'll feel like." She croaked. "I'd just rather be left alone for a while."

"You're sick Gin, there's something wrong with you. The only way to stop it is to get help, I know. Some things don't go away on their own. I'd like to know if it's really physical, go back to the hospital wing."

"I'd hate to think of Madam Pomfrey walking in on us though." Harry grinned, Draco grinned back. Ginny managed a weak smile.

"I'll go tomorrow, get out of a few classes like potions and charms." Her smile widened a bit. "Oh yeah, and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Just go to bed, I'll finish your rounds for you. The week's already started and you still look exhausted." Draco kissed her cheek, Harry mimicked the movement.

The air suddenly was thick with silence. All three really unaware that Ginny was still in Harry and Draco's arms. She shuffled first.

"I better get to bed, I'm pretty tired, and you Mr. Potter. I need to escort you back to the dormitory and you will receive detention." She ended with a mock scowl.

Both snickered. "What kind of detention?" Harry's sly grin returned.

"Cleaning the prefects' bathroom, naked." Draco tried to hold in a snicker. Ginny spoke again. "And after that, I'm sure Percy would have lines you could do."

Draco gasped, "the horror!"

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The next day was different from the previous days in late October and November. Ginny found herself smiling and even eating, though the stomach pains and headaches continued. The dinner after the miniature makeout session, Draco and Harry dragged a nauseous Ginny up to the hospital wing.

"Hmmm." The school Healer mumbled, after pressing the back of her hand to Ginny's pale face and checking her pulse. Madam Pomfrey trotted off to a bookshelf and pulled a fairly thin black book from it. Pages flipped and the Healer looked back over at Ginny.

"I didn't think so before...but, I doubt you are the victim of a one student food poisoning. You say you have not changed your diet at all?"

Ginny shook her head, "no."

"You didn't fall ill with anything over the summer that could be reverberating?"

"No."

"Mr. Potter, you said that you've just started to notice changes in her appearance and that you have noticed unusual eating habits before?"

"Just as the school year started." Harry mumbled. Was absent since he hadn't stayed. They didn't want to arouse suspicion in anyone and Head Boy duties called.

"To be frank, I believe that this is being brought on by stress. After all dear you are taking all N.E.W.T classes, and pre-Healer training! It's no wonder. I'm, going to put you on a daily potion dose for physical stress relief. I hesitate to do this, since stress is mental first and physical second, but sometimes it is necessary. I'm also going to give you an occasional sedative for your irregular sleep patterns." Madam Pomfrey walked over to her potion cabinet and brought back a red bottle and a smaller blue one. "Twice daily, seven and seven are usually the best times. Take the sedative every three days." The Healer handed her the bottles and Ginny took it.

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey."

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Draco stood on the small ladder in the library searching for the damnedest book that seemed to turn invisible occasionally. The small brawl between a Slytherin fourth-year and a Gryffindor third-year in the library had initially taken him away from being with Ginny for the check-up. This also gave him a chance to look for the book that had been recommended to him by Thorburt.

A sneeze was fighting its way through the concentrating as he came upon _Tyme's Questions_, a book that had been an interesting enough read, though without great hold since he barely remembered reading it. The dust was also doing wonders for lungs. It was when he stifled a second sneeze that the voice below nearly made him slip.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco looked down and saw Percy. "Oh, hello Professor." He turned back to look for his prey in the stack of forbidden books.

"What are you looking for?"

"The _Inquiries of Mhat_, why?"

"Why? Just curious, as I have a right to be, since you don't often find one of your most prized pupils looking for a fairly interesting book."

"No doubt you've read every book in the library." Draco mumbled, then set his eyes on the mahogany colored book. He grabbed and then slid down the ladder.

"What is in _The Inquiries of Mhat_ that interests you?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"The Department of Mysteries is interested in hiring me. It is on a list of books that I should study to see if it's an area I'd like."

"The study of ancient, even archane, magic is interesting to say the least." The redhead looked down at his fingernails, then back at Draco.

"It's also a book I've been meaning to read." Draco brushed the dust of his robes and made move to walk away.

"Stay in your place, Draco."

"What?" He turned to look at a very angry looking Percy.

"Your mother wanted me to relay the message that you seem to be ignoring."

A mixture of fear and anger welled up inside him. She knew. _How could she know about me and Harry?_

"I also want you to stay away from my sister. Leave her alone, ignore her and avoid her." Something blazed inside Percy's eyes. It pierced Draco and it scared him. Who was he talking to? This wasn't Percy Weasley, this was someone else.


	8. Part Eight

Part Eight- How Soon is Now

The conversation that unnerved Draco wasn't repeated. He had to know for himself. But the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had returned to normal. He still wore the same pompous smile in the corridors and in the Great Hall. In his classroom his demeanor was stern and he cracked down on the class even harder.

Ginny showed some improvement for a few days, but the week after receiving the potions, the sickness and insomnia returned. She didn't tell Harry and Draco though. Both of whom had brought her up to their Room of Secrets and spent a night there.

At Sunday breakfast she merely poked at a halved grapefruit. Just as Harry was about to say anything an owl swooped down and landed in front of him. It carried an envelope, the wax seal carrying the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's seal on it. He broke the seal and opened the letter. He read it aloud for Ginny.

Dear Mr. Potter,

It is again met with appreciation that you have applied for Auror training. Since the written test and first interview with Kez Byron, was met above and beyond our standards, we wish to arrange for another interview on the third Saturday in November. Mr. Andrew Wakefield, the Head of the Auror's Organization, will be your interviewer.

Again, congratulations and we wish you good luck.

Sincerely,

T. N. Gobbsholt

Head Secretary of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement

"Wow, there's pressure I wouldn't want to have. Still, being interviewed by a top Healer next year isn't going to be fun either." Ginny bit into a piece of grapefruit and pushed the rest away.

"Yeah, I g…Ginny…" Harry looked at the sorry mess that had once been a grapefruit.

"I'm not sleeping again, either," Ginny admitted.

Harry reached over and grabbed Ginny's hand; she sighed and scooted closer to him so they could talk lower.

"Me neither." Harry admitted. He slowly massaged her hand as she glanced over the letter again. She also stole a glance over at the Slytherin table for a moment, but returned to the parchment quickly.

"He's been quiet lately," Ginny whispered.

"Yeah, I know. He won't tell me what's wrong. Maybe we're all under a lot of stress. All we need is a good day's rest." Harry grabbed for his last bite of toast, but didn't eat it.

"Mmm, rest. Is there no better word out there?" Ginny laid her head on his arm and closed her eyes.

"Yeah there is," then he lowered his voice even more, "sex."

"Harry…" Ginny smiled but tried to sound stern.

It made her question their "relationship" again. _Are we a threesome? Or is this just fun?_ She had questioned herself this in the last several days. _Oh, well, better to have fun while it lasts._

The Slytherin common room wasn't as full as is could have been, since it was a Hogsmeade weekend. Ginny walked a pace behind Draco, hidden underneath the Invisibility Cloak. Their Room of Secrets was out of the question. Mrs. Norris had been spending an awful lot of time near the secret entrance of the twin room in the floor below. So Draco had suggested his Head Boy room. There was plenty of magical ways to lock the room and the most likely disturbance would be a Message Owl, that the Headmaster and the Head Boy and Girl shared.

Draco had confronted Harry and Ginny about their insomnia and decided that he would supervise at least a few hours of nap time, when all three could be alone.

He turned quicker than Ginny would have liked and nearly bumped over a vase. Draco walked casually up the stairs nodding to other Slytherins as they passed by. A door appeared to the opposite side of the seventh year dormitory, when Draco approached it. He then pulled out of his robes a brass key, slid it into the lock. A sharp "click" and he opened the door to a dimly lit, very large room.

The black and green chamber was perhaps half the size of the Slytherin common room. A large, canopy bed took up the far-left corner, and an ebony wood desk took up the closest left corner. There was a wardrobe adjacent from the bed, the same ebony as the desk. The black, green and silver accented room was just like Draco in every way.

Draco shut the door behind them and waved his wand so the candles of the room grew brighter. Ginny pulled the cloak off and handed it to him. He shoved it in one of his robe pockets, gave her a quick kiss to the cheek, and left to go get Harry, who was waiting in the library.

Ginny noticed another door in the room and went over to it. It was Draco's own bathroom.

_Damn, I hope I make Head Girl._ Ginny thought as she looked over the green walls, black floor and gray marble. The room also had a smell of freshly squeezed lemons.

Back in the main room she looked over the contents strewn across the desk. There were sketches of the lake and castle. Some of Harry, some even of her, there was a few of her self and the Boy-Who-Lived in the same drawing. There was one in particular she really liked. He hadn't enchanted them yet, or used a spelled piece of charcoal; the figures were stationary. But it was herself in a belly dancer costume, with Harry watching her, rested back on a mountain of pillows.

The rest of the papers was homework and letters, there was even an unfinished letter to his mother. Full of bullshit, to make her think that Draco wasn't involved in clandestine activities or playing a double role.

The redhead then turned to the bed. It was a bit bigger than her own in the Gryffindor tower, but it _was_ more elegant. The coverlet was a soft, almost velvet black with silver trim. Ginny then shed her robes, shoes, and oxford shirt, leaving on her skirt and camisole. She hoped on the bed, scooted towards the middle and laid down.

Just as sleep began to grip her, a body slid next to hers and wrapped gentle, strong arms around her petite form.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Harry whispered.

"Hey." She smiled back as Harry lifted the cloak off his face.

Draco finished locking the room. Only Snape and Dumbledore knew how to reverse the charms. It left him thinking that at least neither would tell Narcissa Malfoy that he Draco Malfoy was sleeping with Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.

He quickly joined the redhead and black haired boy, after pulling his own robes off and un-tucking his shirt. He then gathered all three wands and placed them on the headboard, a quick reach.

"Sleep you two."

"You need to keep watch, not spoon Harry to sleep, and end up falling asleep yourself." Ginny narrowed bronze eyes at him.

"_Moi_? Fall asleep? I get plenty of sleep at night. Just not on the weekend nights." Draco grinned with the last part, Harry mimicked his smile.

"Mmm, keep talking about the nummy stuff Draco and we're bound not to sleep." She grinned as well.

"Well, we'd sleep afterwards. Sex with one person is pretty exhausting. Just imagine the sleep after fucking two people." Draco laughed and settled down onto the pillows. "Don't worry, the spells on the door will sound a ring of they are lifted. Just sleep Gin." Ginny gave a pleasing moan and stilled too. Harry was last to join their repose.

_Sleep, rest, sex, cuddling the best words man ever created_…Ginny was the first to drift off. Harry felt her relax more as he ebbed out of consciousness. After the first to fell asleep Draco checked to make sure the room was secure, grabbed his wand without disturbing the pair, and dimmed the candles to mere sparks. He then replaced it, and fell next to Harry and drifted off himself.

_The darkness surrounding his face accentuated the sounds around him. Harry felt bruised and battered. Like after playing Quidditch for ten hours straight, though the satisfaction and thrill of Quidditch was absent. It was replaced by fear and anxiety. _

_There was a sickening groan after a thud next to him and the darkness was lifted. The room he was in was immense. Draperies of crimson and black hung magically. There was the sound of a tranquil brook, but it made the room feel colder. Harry turned to see who had been dropped next to him. _

_Draco was covered in blood. His breath came with wheezes and difficulty. There was a large gash above his eye that was clotting as well as a cut in his lip. But most sickening, his arm was twisted in such a way, it had to be broken. He opened swelled eyes, Harry looked and started to reach out to touch is lover, but he was bound with hands tied behind his back._

_A Death Eater kicked Draco in the stomach. He coughed up fresh blood and kept coughing, a hint of misery in every breath._

"_Tsk, tsk. Be nice to our guests." A voice sounded from behind on of the draperies._

_A person, a woman, stepped out from behind a hanging. The hood of her scarlet cloak covered her face, but while she walked the sides moved to show what she wore. A white corset, a long black skirt and sharp stilettos. Graceful, black-tipped, fingers played with a wand._

"_Who the hell are you?" Harry growled. He wasn't in as bad condition as Draco was physically. Either that or an adrenaline rush was blocking pain. _

_The cloaked girl merely scoffed. "Where is the brave and strong Harry Potter now? Look at you. All your allies are dead or broken. Dumbledore was finally defeated; we killed him together. Ron and Hermione were especially fun. I can still hear her musical Muggle screams. Everyone else, dead." The word hit Harry with a sickening realization. He was alone, well almost. But Draco was hanging on by a thread of gossamer strength. Hope was gone._

"_I swear, whatever you've done to the ones I cared about, you'll pay. I fucking make you pay! I'll tear what's left of your fucking heart out!" _

"_Such language. Someone should teach you a lesson."_

_The musical voice lingered in Harry's ears, leaving torment and sorrow. Then something struck him as he stole another glance at Draco. "Where's Ginny?"_

_She chuckled a bit, a sickening laugh that a black widow spider would have. The woman's voice fell to a hiss, "_that waif is gone. _Dead like the rest of your little gang."_

"_No…" Harry lowered his head in defeat._

_It happened seconds later, it felt like something searing onto the scar in his forehead. _No…he can't be here…_ Black swished by; the hem of robes brushing his arm, drawing a straight wound and blood._

"_Tom, love…" Voldemort pushed the hood of the woman's cloak back. Blood red curls cascaded on her pale shoulders. Green eyes that should have been as brown as polished bronze looked down at him, the heat in his forehead increasing._

"_Scarlet, _my_ Lady Scarlet…"_

_A weak "no" emitted from the form beside Harry. "Gin…" Draco wheezed. _

"That_ innocent girl is dead, Draco." She gripped her wand, looking like she was going to cast a spell._

"_No, don't you fucking hurt him again, Ginny!" Harry screamed. If Draco took one more blow, it could very well be his end._

"_I said, I'm not that girl! I am Lady Scarlet, Lord Voldemort's eternal companion. Never yours, never his!" _

_It felt like he had just held her. Like the three of them had just arisen from their nap on that innocent Sunday so long ago…or…_

"_This can't be real. This _isn't_ real." Harry growled._

"_This is real Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Once-Lived another day and died the next. For that is all a decade or two really is to Father Time." Voldemort spoke, his lips curling in to a sadistic smile._

_The Dark Lord leaned over and kissed Ginny, Lady Scarlet. He probed his tongue into her willing mouth. She reached up to caress his face; his hands rested on her hips. Staying clearly away from her buttocks and breasts._

_Harry buckled over in pain. It started at his scar and made way to his heart and into his soul. The pain hit Draco too. Harry had felt something like this before; something was trying to steal his soul…_

All awoke with a start. Draco buckled over as Harry's hands grabbed for empty space. Both saw Ginny coughing violently, moving away from the bed. She then held her hands to her mouth and raced out of the room.

Draco ran down the stairs fast enough to see Ginny vomiting. She wouldn't stop, not until bright red blood came up in a mass. The she passed out, missing the puddle of blood and vomit, and the questions from Draco's fellow Slytherins.


	9. Part Nine

A/N: ha! I beat the damned system on blasted scene changes. Now the paragraph flow isn't dumb. Better fix my other fics now too. Oh by the way, thanx to EVERYbody that's given me reviews, it makes me want to keep pouring my insanity out.

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Part Nine- All Going Awry

Draco stood a fair distance away from Ginny as Madam Pomfrey was giving her a top to bottom exam. Professor Snape had been furious that Ginny was in his room, in the Slytherin dungeons. Snape had taken points from the Head Boy and Prefect, gave a weeks worth of detention to both and put in a motion to suspend them from their positions. Draco took all of this a meekly as he could. It also took all of his strength not to curse the Potions Master.

He still remained in the hospital wing because Dumbledore was on his way after Madam Pomfrey was finished with Ginny. The redhead hadn't stopped crying after she regained consciousness, but the weeping had been reduced to quieter sobbing.

The examination was the most anxious minutes Draco had ever suffered through. He was also contemplating what would have happened if Harry had been discovered. The other party hadn't resurfaced since Snape had escorted Draco out of the common room. Hopefully he was out, and that the library alibi would hold true.

The curtain was parted after more painful minutes and the Healer was taking a tray away from the bed. Draco rushed to her side and took her hand. He gave her a quick kiss to wet cheeks.

"So, I see that two enemy families are being united by star-crossed lovers." Dumbledore's voice came from behind and both looked at each other with fear.

Draco stood and faced Dumbledore. He would take his dismissal like a man.

"Sit down Draco. I would also like to add, that your third party can take off his cloak. I will swear Madam Pomfrey to secrecy."

Draco scanned the room for Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived appeared as he shed his invisible disguise and walked over to join the conversation.

The Headmaster summoned a chair himself since Harry took the spot at the end of Ginny's bed. He pocketed his wand and started down his nose at the three teens. "Now, let's start with why where you three in the Head Boy's room in the Slytherin dungeon?"

Draco spoke, Ginny just let the tears fall and Harry's throat seized up. "We were tired and we decided to take sleep for a couple of hours."

"Why all three of you together?"

This time Draco's throat seized up and no one spoke for a few minutes. "Draco and Harry are kinda together. I've kinda joined in." Ginny's had stopped; only silent tears gave away that she was weeping.

"Ah ha." It was Dumbledore's only response. He didn't move, he didn't say anything else for a few more moments. "Poppy tells me you haven't been sleeping Ginny."

"No."

"Why?"

"I've been having dreams." A sob broke in her throat. Both boys reached for her hand, and both held it.

"About?" Dumbledore said nothing about the gesture the two boys made; he just let his face show aloofness.

"Voldemort. Only he's not Voldemort. I saw Tom Riddle once, in a picture a few years ago. It was in the library about the past Head Boys and Girls at Hogwarts. Since then I've thought about his face more wholly, but only after Draco and Harry.

But he's there in my dreams. My mind wants to see Voldemort, but it also wants to see Tom." Harry sat in stunned silence. Draco clenched his other hand.

"I knew it, somehow…he's made his way into your mind."

"I have just come to that conclusion my self Draco. The question is how and why. He has no direct link to you Ginny, but he wants one. As I remember Tom Riddle was a very shy boy, charismatic, oh yes, but he was shy around girls. So, why now? Why Ginny Weasley?" He asked this more to himself than the three. "Would he have any reason to think that you and Ginny are a pair, Harry?"

"No, I can't think of anything." Harry shook his head. "I wish I did know why too."

"Well, he knew about the Chamber of Secrets right? Maybe something carried over to him while Tom Riddle, the sixteen year old boy and fifty year old book, was tangible?" Draco offered.

"The diary," Harry whispered. "Lucius, I gave him the diary to free Dobby, remember. But, there was a hole in the heart of the book, it was destroyed."

"I'm sure if Lucius Malfoy had the diary he would have given it to Voldemort, among everything he has collected about you, Harry, I'm sure that would include Draco's past letters. Before the discovery of the See-Me-Not potion in his body." Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment then looked back up at the stunned Draco.

"Yes, I would write all about Harry, I even told him…Gin had a crush on him. That's probably it! He's now using Gin; he's trying to mold her, like Lucius did me. Only it's made Gin sick, because the process is being sped up, he doesn't have time to do everything; or rather her mind is too mature. Most mind molding potions need to be administered in early youth."

"Clever, Draco, clever. The only question we have left is who had been 'feeding' the potion or concoctions to Ginny, and how. Sometimes it makes me wonder, how do I let things get past me? How can I put my own students into danger?" Dumbledore lowered his head.

"It's not your fault, Professor." Ginny's voice full of sympathy. "Nobody's perfect. I'm sure that who ever's been doing this, has been inside Hogwarts for a while."

"You think it's one of the students?" Draco raised an eyebrow. Dumbledore looked up at Ginny, a glint in his eye.

"I do too." Harry looked down at the floor. "I have several guesses."

"Be careful Harry. Suspicions make the worst enemies." The headmaster warned.

"I already have many foes as it is, what's a few more?"

"Don't do anything unless you have enough evidence to show me Harry." Dumbledore looked sternly at the vigilant teen. "I also want to take samples of Ginny's blood and have Professor Snape break it down."

"But he's furious with us!" Ginny cried out. "He won't do a damn thing. Oops I mean…" The old man held up a hand.

"Professor Snape will do what I tell him to do. In the mean time, the point reduction and detentions will still be in effect. I will not suspend you from your positions, because it will raise many eyebrows and Miss Granger does not need a double load due to her partner's carelessness. As for you Harry…detention for being outside your tower tonight after curfew. Be aware, all three of you. I have no actual qualms against you three being together as lovers, but the standard rules apply. Stay out of each other's rooms and dormitories, and put your studies and positions ahead of romance." Dumbledore waved his wand, the chair disappeared and he walked to Madam Pomfrey's office.

"That wasn't as bad as it could have been," Harry said with a nervous chuckle.

"No, it wasn't." Ginny started at the three intertwined hands.

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The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry and Draco arrived early. They sat down towards the back of the room next to each other and began to carry on a civilized conversation that started with Quidditch. Draco pulled out his book but didn't open it like he usually did. They just kept on talking, like they usually did when alone.

Percy had started staring at them, from the front of the room. Neither looked up to meet his gaze, but they knew it was there.

Soon the class was flowing in. Ron and Hermione walked in together, really together. The redhead was holding her hand; Hermione carried a book in the crook of her arm to accommodate the new walking mannerism. Then both saw the two boys in the back isolated from the rest of the room. Ron immediately let go of Hermione's hand and marched to the back of the room.

"Have we suddenly gone 'Malfoy's-not-all-that-bad' too! At first I thought maybe Ginny just had a very fucked up crush, but you're sitting next to him and he's not dead!" Ron's voice was filled with fury and reaching that point when a whisper explodes into a shout.

"Ron settle down!" Hermione whispered.

"Ya know Ron things change, people change! Look years ago you wouldn't have admitted to liking Hermione, but I guess after a while someone grows on you." Harry had stood to face his friend eye to eye. Which was a little difficult since Ron had reached six-three.

"Hermione has always been my friend. This is Draco Malfoy. A few years ago he probably wouldn't have given a second thought to handing you over to You-Know-Who!" Ron's face was flushing a red darker than his hair.

Draco shook with rage and got to his feet.

"Weasley, what have I done as of late! What have I fucking done! I apologize to your girlfriend for what I've said and done to her! I treat her with the same fucking respect she's given me! I help out your sister when you don't do a damn thing. I've done wrong in the past, and I'm now trying to fix what was out of my hands!" Draco grabbed his bag shoved his book in and slung it over his shoulder. He pushed past Hermione and out the door.

Percy had arrived to the group. "Twenty points from each person for disruptions! If you don't break it up it will be detention too!"

Hermione sat between the stone silent boys for the rest of the class. Throughout Potions, Hermione also tried to talk to Harry, but the stone partner was worried more why Draco wasn't in Potions.

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With the map Harry found Draco in one of the library study rooms, eyes red and puffy, bent over a book. Harry sat down next to his lover and looked down at the book Draco was reading.

"Books, have you read the library yet?"

"No, only what's been interesting or required. What's the point?" He looked at Harry with eyes so metallic they were nearly inhuman. "What's the fucking point?"

Harry reached over and wiped a tear away with his thumb. He held Draco's face in his hands gently while he spoke. "Don't worry about Ron. Once we're all away from here, things will be different. When we actually join the Order, you'll be able to prove to Ron and all the Weasleys you're not Lucius Malfoy, you're Draco Malfoy. A Draco Malfoy, that for over ten years, was poisoned by his own father. It'll all turn out, I promise."

"Yeah, I guess so." Draco closed the book and Harry glanced at the silver lettered title on the blue leather.

"_Magick in War: A Wizarding History of the Roman Invasion_. What's it about?"

"I have a theory, it's the only thing I could find in relation to it, in this conservative library, is that we're…connected."

"What do ya mean?"

"You, Gin and me are reminiscence of something that hasn't been heard of in nearly seventeen-hundred years, a true triumvirate. Harry we dream-shared. That hasn't been heard of since the Roman invasion of the British Isles. I came across it over the summer. Two Celtic tribes held a great resistance to the Roman army near here…about fifteen miles from where Hogwarts is. The three that gave a recording of dream-sharing also became a triumvir. Only the three involved became prominently known..."

"Known what?"

"It doesn't really say."

Draco took Harry's hands from his face and held them in his own. "We've some how created a triumvir of power. I don't know how it was done, but we've done something that hasn't happened in nearly seventeen thousand years. Even before Hogwarts was created. A king and queen of two Celtic tribes and a Roman general, who were witches and wizards, melded their souls together. Their power was great."

Harry sat in silence for a minute then spoke softly, "why didn't we feel anything before? Before we go any further, let's find Ginny. She needs to hear this too."

"I was waiting for you and the map. I talked to Lovegood quickly and she said Ginny didn't show up for Herbology or Transfiguration."

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Ginny found the Room of Secrets quicker than she thought. The door was hidden behind a landscape painting. It took her several sobs to speak the right password, "passions." Upon entering the room the painting swung closed behind and the candles around the spacious room grew to give off just enough light to see.

She walked over to the shelf that had been magically stocked with white linen handkerchiefs embroidered with the Hogwarts crest. Grabbing one she drudged over to the bed, pulled off the school robes and slid under the covers.

Tears gave way, she wept for everything. Mostly herself, because she knew in her heart, she was dying.


	10. Part Ten

Part Ten- Binding and Growing

Blissful sleep, undisturbed, just rest. Rest in the way it felt with human warmth. _Human warmth?_ Ginny's conscious mind came to her with the realization that she was in fact between two bodies. One held her the curves of their bodies matching almost perfectly. The other held her hand and was breathing slightly against her forehead. The warm air smelled faintly of peppermint and chocolate.

Shaking herself awake, Ginny gazed at Harry's closed eyes. The person behind her was Draco. She never had noticed before how close in height they were; he could only be five-ten, short for a guy, but being five-seven herself, she was none too short either. She tried to pull away from Harry's grip, but he held her tight. As if she would disappear, if he didn't hold on. Her movements woke him he smiled at her and reluctantly let go. She sat up, Draco's arm sliding down her waist, waking him as well.

"What time is it?" She asked. Though it hadn't occurred for a long time, the feel of several hours' sleep was wonderful.

Harry glanced at his watch, "about ten. Heard you skipped your last two classes."

"Yeah well, I didn't want to go. Besides, it doesn't matter anyway."

Draco sat up and pulled her into his lap. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing, nevermind, I can catch up, no sweat." Harry moved forward to once again take Ginny's hands in his own.

"Gin, what happened?" She was silent for a while; she closed her eyes and spoke.

"I called Bethany a Mudblood…I said to her 'get your filthy Mudblood hands off my book.' I don't know why I said it, but I did. Why would I say something like that? I've never, ever wanted to say anything like that before." Tears drew wet wounds down her cheeks. Harry leaned over and kissed the wet skin, then her closed eyelids.

"Ginny, I know in my heart you would never ever say anything like that, and mean it. You have to be one of the kindest, sweetest, most tenderhearted people I know. You listened to me over the summer. Draco told me all about your words of comfort to him. You're even training to be a Healer! Cause you want to help people. Not because you're cruel and evil. What ever is happening, we're going to be here for you." He cupped her cheeks in his hand, wiping away the salty pangs.

"Love is through the good times and the bad. We didn't see it before because, being with two people at the same time is perceived as wrong. Well so is being bi, but through thick and thin, I'll be there. We both will." Draco tried to smile but it only formed halfheartedly.

"Draco, Harry, I feel myself ebbing away. I feel like I'm dying. Not physically but some plague is seeping through my body, wanting my flesh. So I can hurt and maim. Drinking fears and pains as though they were my life giving sustenance. I don't want to be that person; I'd rather be dead…"

"Gin, don't talk like…" She cut his words off quickly.

"I want you to promise, if I become that Lady Scarlet, I want one of you to kill me when you have the chance." She looked into emerald orbs sternly, orbs that were pooling tears of their own.

"I don't want to hear you talk like that, but I promise." Harry kissed her gently. Then Draco guided her chin to touch his lips with hers.

"I promise too," he whispered, "but I'd rather fight it first. There's so many things that I'd do before even just fighting."

"Whaddya mean?" Ginny rested her head under his chin.

"I just want to live in the now, not thinking of the future. I want to be naked between these sheets, with you and Harry. Nothing else bothering a good lay, except for love."

"Sex, now?" Ginny looked at him wide eyed, realizing that her thigh knew he meant "NOW!"

"I can't help but wonder, do you look better than Harry naked?" He grinned evilly.

"Hey…" Harry sat up and brought Draco forward for a quick kiss.

Ginny pulled Draco away to kiss him again, this time, taking initiative. She slipped her tongue passed his lips and he fought back. She suckled and bit, until Harry pulled her away from Draco and began kissing her savagely. Draco's hands were fast at work; he moved his mouth to her neck and ear, while unbuttoning her shirt. After the buttons had been dealt with, Harry moved forward and pushed Draco down on the bed. Like a lion on his prey, fully dominant he moved to kiss and probe him with a fervor Draco hadn't felt before.

Ginny had switched to remove Draco's shirt after discarding her blouse and camisole. She wore only her skirt and a bra that matched Harry's eyes. After parting Harry looked over and raised his eyes about the lingerie. She laughed and her face broke into an all out smile. A smile she hadn't worn in weeks.

Harry moved off of Draco and stalked to close the only foot that separated them. Draco sat up and crawled to her side as well.

"Mmm, I think Harry's getting naked first." The dark headed teen sat back on his heels and raised his eyebrows again. "I want to you Harry. I've wanted you like this for so long." She straddled his knees and practically tore the shirt from his torso.

"Mmm, perfection, isn't he?" Draco wrapped his arms around Harry from behind.

"No, not just perfect, wonderful."

She pulled herself up to kiss him. Draco moved his hands down muscular torso and dipped hands into the waistband of his pants. He pulled Harry back, both just watched while Ginny continued. She undid the buckle, then the button, then pulled the zipper down slowly. Underneath the black issued trousers of the school were navy blue boxers. Draco saw the hesitation as she slipped her fingers beneath the blue waistband. He slid out from under Harry and kneeled next to her.

"Let me help."

Two sets of pale hands slid boxers and pants as gracefully as possible. Ginny tossed them away. She stared at unhidden, smooth, olive-tan skin. He sat up, then crawled towards Draco. The pair had no trouble with getting Draco naked.

Once again Ginny sat and stared. _So gorgeous, all mine_… but her thoughts were interrupted as both pushed her back carefully. Harry slipped his hands behind her back and undid the three clasps that held on the cover for her breasts. Draco pulled down her skirt and matching green bikini. Leaving her bare like themselves.

Draco slowly kissed his way up her right leg, while Harry suckled and kneaded her soft pale mounds. At the thatch of curls, she thought he would stop, but Draco still continued. Ginny silently pleaded that he use his tongue and mouth on her. He delved his soft tongue into her belly button, then slid up and took her other breast. She convulsed and moaned under their caresses and kisses.

"Stop, please I want to…to you guys too…"

Harry whispered into her ear, "there will be plenty of other times, tonight, it's all about you love."

* * *

Ginny was sandwiched in the middle, Draco and Harry on either side, and sex all in the air. Draco's taking had been easier than Harry's, he didn't want to hurt her, but though insistence, the three became one. Following a rhythm that seemed so natural, like they'd done it all before. She moaned deeper as her orgasm built more and more pressure on her body. 

"Draco! Harry!" Screaming their names in a voice filled with tangible euphoria.

Harry massaged and pinched breasts and nipples to the point it nearly hurt, but pain and pleasure were too blurry a line since the beginning. Draco guided her hips like he was dancing with her. Smooth torso rubbing against both sides of her body, sweat stopping the sticking of skin. The pleasure of it all made Ginny's vision go fuzzy, as though she'd been crying for hours and was now trying to walk a fair distance. Something deep inside was awakening. With realization, she could not just feel Draco and Harry's bodies, but the weight of their souls, the intimacy that they were feeling…

But it disappeared when she felt Harry's release. Her own came with his orgasm, and as Draco felt the convulsions of her body he fell into the wave of ardor. Left panting and reorganizing all three collapsed. The following moments were silent save for the deep panting. Ginny cuddled up with Draco on her side while Harry spooned her body.

"I love you Ginny," Harry whispered "I love you, Draco."

Ginny didn't respond as Draco said, "I love you, both." She shifted a bit and hopefully the issue could be addressed in the morning. For now she just curled in between the human warmth and let sleep take its claim.

* * *

_"My Lady, you will meet my servant at the border of the Forbidden Forest. You will then come to me, and this will be final!"_

She woke with a start; forged between two bodies. _This will prove to be difficult._ Ginny wedged herself out form between Harry and Draco. They both stirred, but neither woke. She quickly grabbed her clothes and pulled them on. Then she stopped.

_Why am I doing this?_ But she turned to look Harry and Draco, naked in the bed. The crimson sheets and coverlet had been moved around in the night while they slept. The red spilled from thighs down, discarded material left the rest of their bodies nearly bare. Ginny breathed a sigh at the sight. Both had moved in the last few minutes to intertwine themselves with the space that had grown. Draco's paleness was accentuated with the wine color surrounding him, while Harry's darker skin was made tanner by it. They looked so perfect together, she felt like a very ugly duckling in their presence.

In the back of her mind Voldemort's hiss of a voice lingered, pulling her towards the door, while she continued to stare at the pair. It took several more seconds but she walked to them and reached out. She touched Harry's hair and ran a finger over his cheek. She then stretched out to touch a strand of stray platinum hair and his alabaster skin. The last time she would touch them, ever, she knew it all too well.

_Good bye, my loves, remember your promise._


	11. The Final Goodbye

Note this is not Chapter Ten

I do feel bad about abandoning "Scarlet Lady." But I underwent a revolution in my character, writing style, and my whole life. Don't worry I haven't turned into an anti-slash bitch, I will always look on the possibility of Draco, Harry, and Ginny ending up together even if JKR doesn't allow it.

I'm sorry that I never finished SL, this story really taught me a lot about myself. If anybody is really interested in a basic one paragraph explaination about the ending events, E-mail me at I do thank you for your support and comments.

Love

The Jinx

PS College does suck for those who care to know, but the money is worth the education.


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